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<pre style="font-family: courier new,courier,monospace;"><big><big><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">LPMuds.net Forum Software FAQ</span></big><br><br>Written by Cratylus @ Frontiers, October 2006<br><br></big><big><a
 href="#ugly">This is the ugliest forum software I have ever seen. Why don't you change it?</a><br><a
 href="#tricksy"><br></a></big><big><a href="#tricksy">You are a tricksy trickster! This is not an LPC site, it is a Dead Souls site!</a><span
 style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><br><br></span></big><big><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a name="ugly"></a>This is the ugliest forum software I have ever seen. Why don't you change it?</span><br><br>Ok, let me make a few points, which add up to the reason<br>we are where we are:<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> I'm not a web developer *at all*. My idea of a well-designed<br>page is black text on a white background...period. <br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> The LPMuds.net forums started up around the same time that the<br>LPUniversity forums died and LPU closed down. The Beehive software<br>was the thing I happened to be testing at that point. I realized there<br>was a pressing need to have forums available, so by happenstance<br>Beehive happened to draw the short straw.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> Because my aesthetics are simple to the point of primitivity, it<br>honestly never occurred to me that anyone would complain about the<br>forum software. I'm not kidding! To me, it's simple, it works, end of story.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> As more and more people gripe about the site, I realize there is<br>a general feeling of displeasure with the forum software. This is<br>supported by the informal poll held some weeks back.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> I take these complaints seriously, and for the past few weeks<br>have been working on trying out different webserver/database/forum<br>configs. I am, honestly, for real, developing a solution.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> This will take some time. It will take time because I<br>do not want to have to do it again, and I therefore will be making sure<br>that it is done right. Since this is my first entanglement with<br>forum software, I am learning as I work, which slows the process more.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> In theory I could scrap the current stuff and just put up new stuff<br>immediately. However, I feel very strongly that the site's success<br>relies on the faith people can have on the integrity of its <br>continuity. I do not want to establish a reputation, right from the start, <br>of a site that discards user data and forum content as convenience wills.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> Therefore part of the solution involves a migration plan for the<br>current database. Since there are limited automated options, I need<br>to teach myself sufficient SQL (of which I know nothing) to do this<br>properly. Again, this will take time.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> I look forward to this work. I am actually enjoying developing this<br>solution. I've wanted an excuse to learn database stuff, and this is<br>really a wonderful opportunity. You can expect that I will put the<br>same level of zeal into this solution as I have into the lib work<br>I've done.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> Those who know me know that I don't do empty promises. What I say<br>I will do, I do.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> However, most of my waking hours involve me working on things that<br>actually feed my family and shelter us from the elements. I can offer<br>you no timetables, nor a specific plan.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> What I can promise is that I will do my best, and I believe it will<br>suffice. Once I've got things roughly under control, I'll open a test<br>site where people can offer critiques and comments, etc. Obviously it<br>will not be possible to please everyone, but I will do my best to be<br>a responsive site admin.<br><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold;">*</span> In the meantime, I ask for your patience. I'm scrupulously patient <br>with LPC newbies. Please be patient with my admin site noobicity. We'll<br>get there, I promise.<br><br></big><big><br><span
 style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a
 name="tricksy"></a>You are a tricksy trickster! This is not an LPC site, it is a Dead Souls site!</span><br><br>There is no debate about what, as of this writing, is the overwhelming<br>content of the site: discussion of the Dead Souls 2 LP mudlib. I maintain<br>that lib, and I own this site. There is an obvious bias in the current<br>demographics of the site membership.<br><br>I mean...you know. Duh.<br><br>However, the point of my work has been not only a revival of Dead Souls, but<br>a revival of LPC by using Dead Souls as a tool to get to that <a
 href="http://dead-souls.net/articles/renaissance.html">renaissance</a>.<br><br>Perhaps I am deluded in my belief that spreading popularity of Dead Souls<br>is a net plus for LPC. I grant you that. But don't doubt that this is my<br>honest belief. My maniacal fanaticism in support of Dead Souls should be<br>clear evidence that I may not be rational on this point, and merit a<br>little humoring.<br><br>That aside, I do think that a reliable, trustworthy site open to any and all <br>LPC discussion is sorely needed, and I want to make it possible for that<br>site to be lpmuds.net. I have been making clear to everyone that all<br>LPC discussion, regardless of driver or lib, is welcome and encouraged,<br>and it is my hope that, though started as largely a DS support site, it<br>becomes a hub for activity and discussion of LPC of all persuasions.<br><br>Call me nutty or mistaken. But don't call me deceptive. I'm up front about<br>what I'm trying to do, and people can decide for themselves whether <br>they like it. <br></big></pre>
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